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Topic: Astronomy Music (Read 2637 times)

Didn't known if i should post this here or in the "Everything..."section...

Is there any stargazers here? And if so is there any cd you may think of or enjoy playing while observing the heavens above? Or any recommendations?

Last summer, i really enjoyed Justin Wanderberg, Alio Die and Saffron Wood's "Corteggiando...." with it's shimmering sounds, so lovely when a gentle cosmic breeze blow on your face as well as the Tetsu Inoue "Inland". I also enjoy the track "Lyra" by Fripp & Eno and recently discover "The World on Higher Downs" who have a nice track called "Her Static Will" on their "Land Patterns" cd.

Is there any stargazers here? And if so is there any cd you may think of or enjoy playing while observing the heavens above? Or any recommendations?

Yes, but not much observing since coming back to the UK. The skies were so muchdarker on Mauna Kea. <sigh>

Many serious amateur astronomers prefer not to play music, as it can distract fromconcentrating on the sky. Also for meteor watchers like me, many use a sound-activatedrecorder to note events. If I were to play music it would be beatless ambient that sets a mood theat helps me to stay awake, yet not diverting my attention from seeing faint meteors through my telescope. So it would be the likes of Oophoi, Steve Roach (butnot tribal), Exuviae, Robert Scott Thompson, Exuviae, Matthew Florianz,Austere, Diatonis (could list many more). The classic astronomy musician is Jonn Serrie.

Then there are the neighbours to consider. For private listening the extra cables for headphones can get tangled around telescopes and the like, and there are the extra batteries and cassette/CD player to carry. Of more concern was having sufficient battery power for the red torch/flashlight. I suppose in the iPod age, it wouldn't require much extra kit to carry to the observing site.

There is also the ambient sound of the wildlife. It's part of the experience of being under the heavenly dome.

Now while observing at professional observatories I took along a diverse selectionof CDs, largely melodic, so that if there were a telescope operator they didn't have to suffer music they hated. Most of the time the electronics and computers do the heavy work, so the music could be more upbeat to survive the wee hours. Unlike amateur observing there are breaks while the telescope is collecting the data, whereas amateurs using their eyes, can't lose concentration else they'll miss something.